Impeller and fan

ABSTRACT

An impeller applied to a fan is disclosed. The impeller includes a hub, a plurality of centrifugal blades and a plurality of axial blades. One end of each of the centrifugal blades is disposed around the circumference of the hub. The axial blades are respectively connected to the other end of a part of the centrifugal blades. A fan applying the impeller is also disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The non-provisional patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application with Ser. No. 61/617,875, filed on Mar. 30, 2012. This and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an impeller and a fan and, more particularly, to an impeller including centrifugal blades connected with axial blades, and a fan applying the impeller.

2. Description of the Related Art

As electronic products develop high performance, high frequency, high speed and become lighter and thinner, they generate more heat, which makes them unstable and affects reliability and use life. Since a fan has a low cost and mature technology, an electronic device usually uses a fan to dissipate heat.

Taking a graphics card as an example, most of the graphics cards use the conventional fan (such as an axial fan or a centrifugal fan) to dissipate heat. However, the fan is disposed too close to the circuit board of the graphics card and causes problems, such as low efficiency and big noise, Moreover, it is difficult to consider both air pressure and air quantity of the fan at the same time, and air flow direction from the fan may be not suitable for the graphics card, which affects heat dissipating efficiency.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An impeller and a fan which have wide air flow directions, low noise, long using life and can improve heat dissipating efficiency are disclosed.

An impeller is applied to a fan. The impeller includes a hub, a plurality of centrifugal blades and a plurality of axial blades. One end of each of the centrifugal blades is disposed around circumference of the hub, and the other end of a part of the centrifugal blades is connected to the axial blades, respectively.

An impeller is applied to a fan. The impeller includes a hub and a plurality of composite blades disposed around circumference of the hub. Each of the composite blades extends from the hub and includes a centrifugal part and a centrifugal part in sequence.

A fan includes an impeller above-mentioned and a motor, wherein the motor is used for driving the impeller.

As stated above, the impeller and the fan are disclosed. The composite blade is disposed in the impeller (one end of the centrifugal blades is connected to the axial blades, or the centrifugal part is connected to the centrifugal part), which makes the air flow of the fan or the heat dissipating device wider, lowers noise, extends the using life of the motor and improves the heat dissipating efficiency of the heat dissipating device.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a fan in a first embodiment;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a fan in a second embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing air flow direction of a fan;

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a heat dissipating device in a third embodiment; and

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a heat dissipating device in a fourth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

An impeller, a fan and a heat dissipating device are illustrated with relating figures, and the same symbols denote the same components.

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a fan 1 in a first embodiment.

The fan 1 includes an impeller 11 and a motor 12. The motor 12 drives the impeller 11 to rotate.

The impeller 11 includes a hub 111, a plurality of the centrifugal blades 112 and a plurality of the axial blades 113. The fan 1 includes the centrifugal blades 112 and the axial blades 113 to form composite blades, and thus the fan 1 can also be regarded as a composite fan. Furthermore, since an even number of blades may make the fan unstable in operating, the number of the blades is odd, such as nine axial blades 113 in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, which is not limited herein.

The centrifugal blades 112 are disposed around the circumference of the hub 111. As shown in FIG. 1A, the axial blades 113 are connected to one end 114 of the centrifugal blades 112 away from the hub 111, respectively. The number of the axial blades 113 can be less than that of the centrifugal blades 112 (the number of the axial blades 113 is half of that of the centrifugal blades 112, which is not limited herein), and the axial blades 113 are smoothly connected to the centrifugal blades 112 to form the composite blades.

The number of the axial blades 113 may also equal to that of the centrifugal blades 112, that is, each of the axial blades 113 is connected to one end 114 of one of the centrifugal blades 112. The impeller 11 may be manufactured by injection molded, and may be made of metal (such as aluminum or aluminum magnesium alloy) or plastic, which is not limited herein.

The centrifugal blades 112 and the connected axial blades 113 are integrally formed, or the huh 111, the centrifugal blades 112 and the axial blades 113 are integrally formed. In the embodiment, the hub 111, the centrifugal blades 112 and the axial blades 113 are integrally formed to improve the strength of the impeller 11. Moreover, the length of the centrifugal blades 112 may be increased to enhance centrifugal effect (that is increasing the air quantity and the air pressure of the centrifugal blades 112).

The motor 12 includes a rotor (such as a magnet ring) 121, a stator 122, a spindle 123 and a base 124. The spindle 123 is connected to the hub 111 and passes through the axle tube 125 at the base 124. The stator 122 is sleeved on the axle tube 125, and the rotor 121 is disposed in inner peripheral of the hub 111 corresponding to the stator 122. When a coil of the stator 122 is power on, it generates electromagnetic induction with the rotor 121, drives the spindle 123 and the rotor 121 to rotate, and further drives the impeller 11 to rotate. Since the motor 12 is known by persons with ordinary skill in the art, description of the motor 12 is omitted herein.

The impeller 11 further includes a connecting element 115. The connecting element 115 is connected to the connecting part (which is the end 114) between the centrifugal blades 112 and the axial blades 113. The connecting element 115 can strengthen the whole structure of the impeller 11 and resist air pressure to prevent the impeller 11 from deforming. The connecting element (not shown) may be only connected to the centrifugal blades 112 to achieve the same functions.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a fan 2 in a second embodiment.

The fan 2 includes an impeller 21 and a motor 22, and the motor 22 drives the impeller 21 to rotate.

The impeller 21 includes a hub 211 and a plurality of composite blades 212 disposed around the circumference of the hub 211. Each of the composite blades 212 extends from the hub 211 and includes a centrifugal part C and an axial part A in sequence. The centrifugal part C means that the composite blades 212 at the part is shaped in the centrifugal blades, and the axial part A means that the composite blades 212 at the part is shaped in the axial blades. Moreover, the number of the centrifugal part C equals to that of the axial part A, and the hub 211 and the composite blades 212 are integrally formed to strengthen the impeller 21.

The motor 22 includes a rotor (such as a magnet ring) 221, a stator 222, a spindle 223 and a base 224. The structure and the operating principle of the motor 22 are illustrated above, which is omitted herein.

The impeller 21 further includes a connecting element 215 which is connected to a connecting part 214 between the centrifugal part C and the axial part A. The connecting element 215 can strengthen the whole structure of the impeller 21 and resist air pressure to prevent the impeller 21 from deforming. The connecting element (not shown) may be only connected to the centrifugal part C to achieve the same functions.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing air flow direction of the fan 1 and the fan 2. The direction of arrows in a full line indicates air inflow direction, and the direction of arrows in a dotted line indicates air outflow direction.

The composite blades of the fan 1 and 2 are combinations of the centrifugal blades and the axial blades (or the centrifugal part and the centrifugal part). As shown in FIG. 3, the fan 1 or 2 has six air inflow directions (as shown in arrows in a full line) at the upper side and the bottom side, and the air flows out through the sides and flows downwards, which makes the fan 1 and the fan 2 have wide air flow directions, low noise, long using life of the motor and better heat dissipating efficiency.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a heat dissipating device 3 in a third embodiment.

The heat dissipating device 3 includes a fan 1 and a heat dissipater 4. The heat dissipater 4 is disposed corresponding to the fan 1. The heat dissipater 4 may be disposed at one side of the fan 1 (not shown). The heat dissipater 4 may also be disposed around the circumference of the fan 1 (as shown in FIG. 4B). The heat dissipater 4 is a set of heat dissipating fins, which is not limited herein. In the embodiment, the heat dissipater 4 is an annular set of heat dissipating fins, and a part of the heat dissipating fins are disposed around the circumference of the fan 1, and the other part of the heat dissipating fins are disposed at the bottom of the fan 1.

The structure and the operating principle of the fan 1 are illustrated above, which is omitted herein.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are an explosion diagram and an assembly diagram showing a heat dissipating device 5 in a fourth embodiment.

The heat dissipating device 5 includes a fan 2 and a heat dissipater 4. Comparing to the heat dissipating device 3, the difference is that the heat dissipater 4 cooperates with the fan 2, and other structures and the operating principle are the same as that in the third embodiment, which is omitted herein.

The heat dissipating devices 3 and 5 use the fans 1 and 2, respectively, and the composite blades of the fans 1 and 2 are combinations of the centrifugal blades and the axial blades (or combination of the centrifugal part and the centrifugal part). Please refer to FIG. 3, FIG. 4B and FIG. 5B, when the fans 1 and 2 including the composite blades operate, cool air flows in the heat dissipater 4 in six directions (as shown in the full line arrows in FIG. 3), and hot air flows out in the directions shown in the dotted line, so as to dissipate heat.

When air flows out of the composite blades, it can flow downwards through the sides. Thus, the heat dissipating devices 3 and 5 have six air inflow directions, and the air flows out through the sides and downwards, which increases the air quantity flowing through the heat dissipater 4, and makes the heat dissipating devices 3 and 5 have wide air flow directions, low noise, long using life of the motor and better heat dissipating efficiency.

When the heat dissipating devices 3 and 5 are disposed above a printed circuit board (PCB) of the graphics card, the heat dissipating devices 3 and 5 can reduce the temperature of the graphics card by three degrees comparing to the conventional heat dissipating device.

Since the air flows downwards through the sides of the composite blades, heat from peripheral electronic elements near the heat dissipating devices 3 and 5 can also be dissipated.

Moreover, as persons with ordinary skills in the art know, when the motors 12 and 22 reverse operating, the six air inflow directions become six air outflow directions, and the air flows in through the sides, which broadens the air flow directions, lowers the noise, extends the using life and improves the heat dissipating efficiency.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An impeller applied to a fan, comprising: a hub; a plurality of centrifugal blades, wherein one end of each of the centrifugal blades is disposed around circumference of the hub; and a plurality of axial blades, wherein the other end of a part of the centrifugal blades is connected to the axial blades, respectively.
 2. The impeller according to claim 1, wherein the number of the axial blades is less than or equals to the number of the centrifugal blades.
 3. The impeller according to claim I, wherein each of the centrifugal blades and the connected axial blades are integrally formed.
 4. The impeller according to claim 1, wherein the hub, the centrifugal blades and the axial blades are integrally formed.
 5. The impeller according to claim 1, wherein the other end of the centrifugal blades is respectively connected to a connecting element.
 6. An impeller applied to a fan, comprising: a hub; and a plurality of composite blades disposed around circumference of the hub, wherein each of the composite blades extends from the hub and includes a centrifugal part and an axial part in sequence.
 7. The impeller according to claim 6, wherein the impeller further includes: a plurality of centrifugal blades staggerly disposed with the composite blades.
 8. The impeller according to claim 6, wherein the hub and the composite blades are integrally formed.
 9. The impeller according to claim 6, wherein the impeller further includes: a connecting clement connected to the centrifugal part or a connecting part between the centrifugal part and the centrifugal part.
 10. A fan, comprising: an impeller comprising: a hub, a plurality of centrifugal blades, wherein one end of each of the centrifugal blades is disposed around circumference of the hub, and a plurality of axial blades, wherein the other end of a part of the centrifugal blades is connected to the axial blades, respectively; and a motor; wherein the impeller is driven by the motor.
 11. The fan according to claim 10, wherein the number of the axial blades is less than or equals to the number of the centrifugal blades.
 12. The fan according to claim 10, wherein each of the centrifugal blades and the connected axial blades are integrally formed.
 13. The fan according to claim 10, wherein the hub, the centrifugal blades and the axial blades are integrally formed.
 14. The fan according to claim 10, wherein the other end of the centrifugal blades is respectively connected to a connecting element.
 15. A fan, comprising: an impeller comprising: a hub, and a plurality of composite blades disposed around circumference of the hub, wherein each of the composite blades extends from the hub and includes a centrifugal part and an axial part in sequence; and a motor; wherein the impeller is driven by the motor
 16. The fan according to claim 15, wherein the impeller further includes: a plurality of centrifugal blades staggerly disposed with the composite blades.
 17. The fan according to claim 15, wherein the hub and the composite blades are integrally formed.
 18. The fan according to claim 15, wherein the impeller further includes: a connecting element connected to the centrifugal part or a connecting part between the centrifugal part and the centrifugal part. 